


divine intervention

by petx



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Choices, Familiar spirit, Familiars, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 14:19:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19230844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petx/pseuds/petx
Summary: Feeling like the entire world is against him at times, Alec had closed himself off and has made his life revolves around his work and just trying to be the best and most honest person he can be. In the entire world there are only three that he trust; Izzy, Jace and Kutu (his familiar). Having grown numb to it all, Alec is caught off guard the first time he meets the High Warlock of Brooklyn.(Help choose their way.)





	divine intervention

**Author's Note:**

> Please make sure to read the end note, thank you.  
> The tags for this story will be updated as the story is written. 
> 
> Beta: @ShadowOfMystic on twitter (AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowMystic)

In his room, Alec listened to Jace go on and on about the new girl, Clary, who had joined the Institute. The redhead had instantly rubbed Alec the wrong way, but it was more because she seemed so set on breaking all of the rules and not accepting any of the consequences more than anything else. As a person, she seemed nice enough, as a Shadowhunter she just needed to be put in her place; or maybe he was just jealous?  
  
Lying down on his bed, Alec blinked slowly as Kutu climbed up onto his shoulder from the mattress and lay down, blinking just as slowly, mimicking Alec. Kutu was a red-eyed crocodile skink and Alec’s familiar spirit. Kutu was short for Kutukan, which translated to ‘Curse’ but similar to how you didn’t choose your familiar, you didn’t choose its name, it just popped into your head much like the familiar just popped into existence. 

Kutu had been early (when Alec was just five, compared to the normal 8-10) and his parents had always said that that was probably the reason he had ended up with such a small  familiar. There were lots of lore connected to the existence of them and lots of things that were just straight up facts. Within a family, people usually had pretty similar familiar spirits. His father’s  familiar was a King Cobra, his mother’s a Komodo Dragon, Izzy’s was a Black Mamba and Max’s an American Alligator; all of them fairly big compared to Alec’s little Skink, but he loved him nonetheless. 

“Are you listening to me?” Jace asked and Alec snapped out of his own thoughts and lifted his head slightly off the mattress to look at his Parabatai. “Yes, yes, red hair, cool animal, nice butt, I’m listening, I’m listening” he replied. He wasn’t really, he had simply mastered keeping one ear to the conversation while his mind wandered off elsewhere. 

Looking down at his shoulder as he felt Kutu move, he saw the little guy’s eyes narrow as he puffed himself up, trying to look bigger and when he turned to see what he was looking at, he saw Jace’s Prairie Falcon, named Ross, do the same.    
  
What you felt, you could often see through the action of your  familiar and the fact that Ross was acting all tough and annoyed probably meant Jace had caught on that he wasn’t paying attention or he wasn’t happy with the reply he had just been given. 

“If you have better things to do, I’ll be out of your hair” Jace huffed and Alec quickly pushed himself up, Kutu barely hanging onto the fabric of his shirt as he did. 

Letting out a sigh, Alec steadied himself on the bed as he looked at his deflating friend “I’m sorry, I am, it’s just you’ve been talking about her for like a week. I get that you are into her, it’s just there’s only so many times I can hear about her  _ fiery hair _ before I kind of..” he impersonated Jace’s voice before he was cut off. 

“Before you kind of get bored, I get it, I’m sorry” Jace said and let out a defeated sigh. 

It was easy to see just how infatuated with Clary his best friend was, and Alec wanted to support him, but as he had just said, there were limits to how much he could take of the same thing over and over again. “No,  _ I’m sorry _ , I really am. I’m happy you like her so much, she seems cool enough, if not a little.. Annoying” he admitted. He was always honest with Jace, didn’t want to or feel the need to ever lie to him. He didn’t mind Jace going on about girls, but Clary he just talked and talked about without actually talking to her, which made the topic of her rather circular. 

Chuckling, Jace stood up, Ross flapping his wings to get off the desk, landing on Jace’s shoulder. Familiar spirits weren’t like actual animals and didn’t interact with the environment in the same way any other living thing would. When Ross flapped his wings, had he been a normal falcon he would have knocked down the shelves, but as he chose not to interact with the environment he simply turned incorporeal and passed right though the objects. “Fair enough” Jace said as stood, the massive falcon on his shoulder. 

“We should probably head out” Jace continued and nodded his head in the direction of the door. The reason Clary and her mother had come to the New York Institute were because of Clary’s father and Shadowhunter gone rogue; Valentine Morgenstern. The guy was an absolute nutcase and was a threat not just to his own kind, but to all of the downworld as well as all mundanes and it had become the Institute’s main job to try to hunt him down.  

Getting up off the bed, Alec made sure Kutu was still hanging on and nodded. “Yeah, we don’t want to keep Robert waiting” Alec said and rolled his eyes. Robert wasn’t a mean man, but he wasn’t the warmest of parents which was also why Alec usually referred to him by his name and not his ‘family title’ of father, because he didn’t much feel like one. 

Heading out of the room. Alec walked alongside Jace towards the meeting hall. Today the Head of the Institute, Victor Aldertree, had arranged a meeting with some of the leaders of the downworld, not just to warn them about Valentine but probably mainly to see if any of them could help him. Aldertree, like Robert, was not a bad person, just somewhat distant and cold. 

Turning the corner and walking through the main room of operations, Alec watched somewhat amused as Ross took off from Jace’s shoulder and started flying through the room in circles, showing off, which could only mean one thing; Clary was in here somewhere. Not bothering to actually look for her, Alec instead focused on Kutu to make sure he was okay as he felt the small guy crawled over his shoulder and in between the hem of his jacket and his neck, securing himself in a safe location, usually hiding away when he was surrounded by people. 

As they left the main hall and headed down a new corridor, Ross swooped back down like an arrow and landed on Jace’s shoulder again, it’s feathers looking a little ruffled like he was flustered. Familiar spirits would often try to show off to the familiar of a person they were interested in as well as the person, which was what Ross had done. 

“Did she see?” Alec asked, glancing over at Jace and smiling knowingly. 

Making a face, Jace’s face turned hard as a slight blush made its way up his neck “shut up”. 

Holding back a chuckle, they both walked into the meeting hall and saw that almost everyone from the Clave that were supposed to attend the meeting were already there, as well as some of the Downworld leaders. 

Aldertree was standing off to the side, his e chidna was by his feet as he talked to Robert who’s cobra was calmly resting by his. His mother, Maryse, wasn’t there, but after the split from Robert she wasn’t as welcome as she had once been so it wasn’t surprising. 

Imogen, who was Jace’s only living blood relative, was already sitting by the table talking to someone Alec was pretty sure was the leader of the New York Vampire clan. Her marsh harrier was not by her side, but Alec was sure it was sitting up on some beam or something, keeping an eye on everyone. The vampire’s  familiar wasn’t there. Downworlders were not allowed to bring them into the Institute as they were a source of power. 

Feeling suddenly cold, Alec didn’t say a word as he took a seat at the foot of the table, looking down at his hands. He had never liked the practice of separating Downworlders from their  familiar spirits for the sake of them being allowed to step foot in the Institute. The Seelie Queen never came there for that exact reason, (even though she was a hypocrite as she had the same rule when it came to all non-Seelie kind in the Seelie realm) and she hadn’t even sent anyone in her stead this time. Looking over at Jace as his friend took the seat next to him, Alec relaxed a little. It was always calming to have him around. 

Alec was liked amongst the Shadowhunters for never really causing trouble and for being a good soldier, but they didn’t truly respect him, simply because most measured a person’s character by their  familiar and they thought Kutu was weak. None of them really knew him though and he was certain a fair few of them would look at him even less favourably if they knew truly him. He himself knew he was gay, it had always been clear to him, but only Jace and Izzy knew too, and the fact that he was hiding such a big part of himself from everyone else clearly showed with Kutu’s actions and in his own behaviour. Because Alec felt insecure and wanted to hide, Kutu did and rarely came out in public, which again made him seen weak to those around him, even if Alec knew he wasn’t. 

Looking down at the table, Alec was drifting off into his own mind again as he waited for the meeting to start. He had no interest in listening into the conversations being held by any of the others in the room, and Jace wasn’t talking so he didn’t so neither did he. He wanted to be there, he had ambitions of climbing the ranks, but mindless smalltalk had never been his thing. 

They sat there for maybe 10 minutes before there was a sound at the door and Luke, the Alpha of the biggest Werewolf-pack of New York walked in with Jocelyn, Clary’s mother. As a Werewolf, Luke’s  familiar of course had also been refused entry, but Jocelyn’s was missing for a more gruesome reason. 

As people were taking their seats, Aldertree’s voice filled the room “Are we all here?”    
  
“We are now” A voice sounded from the door and when Alec looked up he was met with the sight of a man unlike anyone he had ever seen before. Carrying himself proudly, the unknown man (who had to be the High Warlock) walked into the room, a confident look on his face as he approached the table. “Or did you forget about us?” he asked, seemingly staring at Aldertree. 

Feeling himself get a little warm around the ears, Alec was unable to take his eyes off him as he stood right by where he was seated. He was well built, had Asian features and styled and dressed better than everyone else in the room combined. 

“We would never, Mr. Bane” Aldertree replied and probably gestured for the Warlock to take a seat, Alec couldn’t be sure as he hadn’t taken his eyes off the newcomer who accepted whatever invitation and walked away from where he had stood and instead took a seat further up the table with the other leaders. 

Swallowing back the sudden lump in his throat, Alec’s mouth felt dry. He wasn’t sure he knew what it was about the man, but it was something and it was pleasant while also not. 

Feeling Jace nudge him, Alec blinked a few times before turning to his friend. “You’re staring” Jace spoke under his breath. He looked somewhat amused mixed in with concern, the latter probably because Robert was in the room.    
  
Just nodding to signal that he had heard him, Alec tried his best to just look at Aldertree as he looked back up the table, fighting it whenever his eyes drifted off in the direction of the Warlock. 

As he was sitting there, Alec could feel Kutu moving about, but not actually leaving the safety of the gap between his jacket and neck, instead shifting restlessly on the spot as the meeting started. He actually knew everything that was going to be said by the members of the Clave, but he tried to still pay attention to keep his mind clear and because he genuinely wanted to see how they were choosing to hold these meetings.

Altertree was explaining what had happened with Jocelyn to the Downworlders and hearing the story, even if it was for the 4th or 5th time, was making Alec feel sick. Valentine was a power hungry maniac who wanted to cleanse the world of ‘all evil’ (as he saw it), meaning he wanted to rid the world of any and all Downworlders. On his own, he wasn’t strong enough to warrant a meeting like this as the Clave had secured everything that could be used against them, the mortal cup and the soul sword were all locked away in Alicante and out of his reach, but his new plan was to strengthen himself and his soldiers by stealing other people’s  familiar spirits and using their strengths. 

It had never been done before, possibly because no one had tried but more likely because no one had been cold enough to even come up with the idea, but he had tried the unthinkable and attempted to separate people from their  familiars . Jocelyn had sadly been one of his victims, but in trying to rip her maned wolf from her to take as his own, the poor creature had instead died, leaving her now without one. 

“Knowing this you are still forcing us to leave ours behind to come here?” The leader of the Vampire clan, Raphael Santiago, Alec had heard, shot up as he shouted at Aldertree. “The blatant disrespect from your kind is only matched by the cruelty performed by one of your own. I will not stand for this! If you want mine or any of my people’s help, you will come to us and you will come baring your shame!”    
  
Having jumped at the sudden movement and volume of the man, Alec watched as Raphael wasted no time and with the blink of an eye had left the room with the help of his Vampire speed. He didn’t blame the guy, the fact that he had been forced to leave his  familiar behind when he came here must have felt even worse when he found out that someone might try to rip it from him for good. The thought alone of losing Kutu was making Alec’s insides knot up and ache. 

“Well then” Mr. Bane, the warlock, said and looked around the table. “I’m going to follow the lead of my dear friend here..” he started and stood up. 

“Magnus, please” Jocelyn pleaded and had it not been for the hurt and sorrow in her voice, anchoring Alec to the reality he was in, he might have been whisked off by the sound of Magnus’ voice alone. Magnus; he liked the name and it fitted the pitch of his voice. Alec wasn’t actually sure what it was, but the other man’s voice triggered something in him, making it kind of feel like the back of his mind was tingling. 

Magnus looked back at the woman he had at some point in his life considered a friend, but who he hadn’t seen for years now. “Jocelyn, dear, I understand that..”    
  
“You don’t” Jocelyn interrupted and stood up, looking around at everyone. “No one here understands what it feels like. When it happened it felt like my entire body was being ripped in half. I could feel every second of it and it lasted for hours and now, now I just feel empty. I don’t care about the gift Stella gave me, I don’t care that I was faster with her by my side or that I was a better fighter. I just care about the fact that I didn’t truly realise until she was gone that she wasn’t by my side, she  _ was _ me and that part I can never get back. We need to work together to stop Valentine before he does what he did to me, and probably has already done to others, to anyone else, before he succeeds.”    
  
Tightening one hand into a fist, Magnus felt a sudden need to get out of the room and get back to Pemburu, his  familiar , and hug him. Inhaling slowly, he looked at Jocelyn who was now standing on the other side of the table from him, eyes filled with tears threatening to cover her cheeks any moment. “I want to help, for both our kind’s sake, but I formally put in a request for either these meetings to be held at neutral ground or for you to remove your restrictions regarding our companions.” Looking at the Head of the Shadowhunter’s Institute, he waited for a reaction without getting one. The so called leader was looking slightly nervous and was glancing at everyone else at the table, probably waiting to see their reaction. 

Wanting to challenge him, Magnus’ eyes moved between the people, seeing that Luke, of course, was gently nodding and agreeing with him. Imogen was stone faced as always and so was Robert Lightwood. Sitting next to him was a blonde man he hadn’t paid attention to before and didn’t know (but who carried all of the traits of a Herondale) who like Luke was nodding slowly; and next to him was.. Magnus’ train of thought derailed the second his eyes met those of the other man. The dark hair and hazel eyes were so soft and matched the beautiful features of his face bordering on too perfectly. Almost annoyed at himself for not having looked at him sooner, Magnus realised though that the man unlike the others wasn’t just looking back at him, but straight up staring. 

Feeling his skin tingle as his eyes finally met Magnus’, Alec found himself unable to look away as he let himself get captured by the mild but still somewhat dangerous-feeling dark eyes of the Warlock. For a few seconds it was like the world was melting away around him, at least until Aldertree interrupted their little private moment by speaking again. 

Snapping out of his thought, Magnus gave the tall, dark and handsome man a quick smile before turning his attention to the Nephilim’s indecisive leader. 

“I will talk to the council and personally bring your request forward to them on your behalf” Aldertree said and now that Magnus had looked away and their little moment was gone, Alec was free to actually hear his own thoughts again and they were all screaming the same thing; that Aldertree was being a wimp. He could, as the Head of the Institute, without batting an eye accept the request to meet the other leaders at a neutral ground and he could, if he truly meant what he said, now address Imogen in front of Magnus and Luke seeing she was already higher up than him. Instead, Aldertree took the easy way out, pathetically letting someone else actually decide in his stead so he couldn’t be blamed one way or the other and it was embarrassing to watch. 

Seeing what his words for what they actually were, Magnus was tempted to still do like his friend and walk out, but he had just been given a new incentive to stay a little longer, so he slowly nodded and took a seat again. 

 

******

 

The meeting continued on for some time with Aldertree, Robert and Imogen all trying to explain to Magnus and Luke what was going on, but in all fairness it was only Jocelyn who had any sort of valuable information, so whenever the others spoke, Alec didn’t listen and instead just watched Magnus. He even after what was possibly an hour long meeting couldn’t pinpoint what it was about the man, but it was something and every now and then he would look over and their eyes would meet and he would just feel all tingly. 

Reaching back, Alec let his hand rest on the side of his neck, his fingertips just reaching the back and the gesture seemed to be enough to calm Kutu who had been fidgeting around for the entire duration of the meeting. 

Breathing a little easier himself as Kutu started calming, he looked over at Jace who had been uncharacteristically paying attention to everything that had happened in the meeting so far, but was now getting up from his seat. “Alec, come on” he said and nudged him. 

Getting up, but confused about it, he followed his friend out of the room and into the hallway. “What?” Alec asked, a little upset that he had been made to leave the room. Even though he had heard more or less everything that was being said in the meeting, he still felt it could be beneficial to stay, in case he picked up on something that had previously slipped between the cracks. Even if the subject of the meeting had been something dull, he was also selfishly annoyed that he had been dragged out of the room Magnus was in. 

“We know all of this, there is no point of us hanging around here. I say we grab some weapons, get Izzy and Clary and head out. We are needed out there, we aren't here” Jace said, gesturing to the room they had just left.    
  
Looking between the blonde and the room, Alec felt conflicted. On one hand he wanted to stay because he wanted to become more than just a soldier one day, so he actually wanted to be in the room with those who could make that happen as well as to just be around the mysterious Warlock, but on the other hand he knew Jace was right. They were much more useful out there, patrolling and using the information they had been given to collect more and possibly find something that could point them in the direction of Valentine. 

Inhaling slowly, he tried to find the right answer by searching his instincts, but they were pulling him in opposite directions and even Kutu who had been all over the place for the last hour had settled, not giving him any clue of what to do. 

“Alec, really? Come on” Jace echoed from before and grabbed a hold of his arms. “We’re wasting valuable time”

**Author's Note:**

> Help pick the direction this story goes in by leaving a comment, voting for Alec to
> 
> **Option A: (78%)  
>  Go back into the meeting room and finish the meeting.**
> 
> Option B: (22%)  
> Go with Jace, Izzy & Clary on patrol.
> 
>  
> 
> **VOTING CLOSED!**
> 
>  
> 
> ******  
> If this isn't something people think is interesting I might move away from these options later, it is just a nice way for me to challenge myself and my writing while also letting you as a reader take part.  
> Thank you in advance.  
> #difanfic


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